Battles

By
nmeApr 11, 2007

Atlas

Who wants a history lesson? Good. Forget the subsequent activities of their wig-wearing bandleader back in the ’70s, The Glitter Band revolutionised rock percussion with what became known as The Glitter Beat. You know The Glitter Beat because instead of going boom-boom-boom-boom, it goes boom-ba-boom-ba-boom-ba-boom. It’s the beat used on Kasabian’s ‘Shoot The Runner’ and Marilyn Manson’s ‘The Beautiful People’, and when it’s playing you’d find it difficult to deny that’s why drums were invented.

In a roundabout sort of way, this brings us to Battles. Battles are an American rock supergroup featuring three guitar-synth wankers from brainy ’90s underground bands like Don Caballero and Lynx, plus one hard-hitter – a massive guy named John Stanier who used to beat the skins in grizzled metal bruisers Helmet. Far from making music that’s as fun as integral calculus, on ‘Atlas’, Battles have exhumed The Glitter Beat and bent it into one of the most naggingly addictive, fabulously askew bits of cosmic puzzle-pop you’ll ever hear. Drums romp along like a six-ton puppy. Guitars twist like acupuncture needles jabbed right into your pleasure receptors. “Sing this hook”, states Tyondai Braxton, through a voice box that makes him sound like an evil elf. And before you know it, your limbs are jerking independently of one another and you’ve got a big goofy smile on your face and you’re all like, “Track Of The Week!”